Participants: Alex Schlussler (Host), Rachel Hyman (Host), Sasha Bolotnikov
Series Code: BTOR
Program Code: BTOR000001S
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00:01 Have you ever wondered what the difference is
00:03 between Hebraic roots and Jewish roots? 00:06 Or... who are the Jewish people anyway 00:08 and why does the Bible speak about them? 00:10 Today on Back To Our Roots we'll be discussing these 00:13 things and many more. Stay tuned! 00:38 Shalom! I'm so happy you could join us today. 00:41 This is Back To Our Roots. I'm Alex Schlussler 00:44 and this is my co-host Rachel Hyman. 00:48 Glad to have you with us, Rachel. 00:50 Today we're going to be talking about Back To The Roots. 00:54 What does that mean? We're going to be talking about 00:56 who are the Jewish people. What are the Jewish roots 00:59 versus the Hebraic roots today. Um-hmm. 01:02 We also have a very, very special guest. 01:04 I'm real excited. A little bit later we're going 01:06 to bring him out. He is our resident theologian. 01:09 He's going to really bring some great stuff. 01:12 You know, speaking about Back To The Roots 01:14 there's been so much, Rachel, that you see within Christianity 01:19 today this whole movement - um-hmm - about the roots 01:22 and this and that, you know. And I think that there's... 01:25 A lot of people have confusion about the difference between 01:28 when we say the Hebraic roots versus the Jewish roots. 01:31 And a lot of people don't even know that the roots 01:33 of Christianity is Jewish. 01:34 Which is maybe the craziest thing. 01:37 But when we talk about Hebraic roots vs. Jewish roots 01:41 we want you as our friends and our audience, 01:45 those following us, to grow to an understanding. 01:48 When we speak Hebraic roots we're talking about 01:50 the culture, the atmosphere, the way things were 01:53 at the time that Jesus walked the earth... 01:56 but even going back before that. That's right. 01:58 And when we speak of the Jewish roots 02:01 we're talking about contemporary Judaism. 02:04 And you know, there is a real connection 02:07 but we don't want people to get confused between those 2 things. 02:11 Um-hmm. So Rachel, I know that you have a background 02:15 in Judaism as I do. 02:17 What was your first exposure? 02:20 When you became a Christian how did you reconcile 02:24 being Jewish? Being Christian? Where were you? 02:27 You know, that's such a good question. 02:29 It was really confusing for me because I always 02:31 saw Christians as blaming us for the death of Jesus. 02:35 So I always saw Christianity as kind of our enemy. 02:39 But I met so many Christians who were very nice 02:43 at the same time. I was a little confused 02:45 with the whole Santa Claus and Easter bunny thing. 02:48 But eventually when I really found out 02:51 what Bible Christianity was all about, that helped 02:54 clear things up for me. Right, right. 02:57 You know, when we try to understand the difference 03:00 between even Biblical... Biblical Judaism - 03:06 maybe we could use that term - or Hebraic roots, 03:08 you know, we're wanting to somehow get back to that place 03:13 where Jesus was when He walked the face of the earth. 03:17 Um-hmm. We have a special guest with us today. 03:21 Um-hmm. And he's a great friend to both of us. 03:25 I'd like to bring out our resident theologian 03:29 Alexander Bolotnikov. We call him Sasha. 03:32 Sasha, come on out. Sasha's a very gifted man. 03:36 He is a teacher; he's an evangelist. 03:38 He is completing his Ph. D. in an area of Hebraic studies. 03:43 I have had the opportunity to travel with Sasha to Germany 03:47 on a couple occasions. 03:49 We've worked together quite a bit in the Jewish ministry 03:52 within the Adventist church. 03:54 Sasha, it's wonderful to have you with us. 03:55 It's a pleasure for me to be here. 03:57 I'm so glad you were able to join us. 03:59 And Sasha's going to be with us throughout all of the programs 04:03 just to add the special touch that he's able to bring. 04:07 Sasha: today we're talking about the Hebraic roots 04:10 and in specific, the difference between the Hebraic roots 04:14 and the Jewish roots. And we want to get into just 04:17 a little bit about who the Jews are today 04:21 and maybe even just a little bit of history. 04:24 And I know that, Sasha, you have some great things 04:29 in the area of the origin of the term "Jew. " 04:34 The history of that vs. Hebrew vs. the Israeli's or whatever. 04:40 Why don't you give us some of that, Sasha? 04:43 If we go to the Bible to the book of Genesis 04:46 the first time the word Hebrew appears 04:50 in the book of Genesis chapter 13 04:53 and Abraham - actually Abram - is called "the Hebrew. " 04:59 And it is interesting that Hebrew is not referred 05:05 as ethnicity of Abraham. 05:08 Because if we look at Deuteronomy chapter 26 verse 5 05:14 it speaks specifically that Abraham was a wandering Aramaen. 05:20 So his ethnicity was Aramaic. Yeah, Aramaic. 05:24 Right. Aramaens were the people who lived throughout the 05:29 Middle East through Mesopotamia, the Iraq today, you know. 05:33 Right, right. Remember the rivers Tigris and Euphrates? 05:35 But it is interesting how we look at the history of Abraham 05:41 and we realize his father, Terah, left Ur of the Chaldees 05:46 which is down below where... down at the Persian Gulf - 05:52 right - almost... and he was ordered to go into the land 05:56 of Canaan. Yes. And he went up 06:01 to the border which is today Syria - right - 06:06 in the city of Haran and he stopped there. 06:09 And so God calls Abraham to keep going. 06:14 And so Abraham in order to end up in the land of Canaan 06:19 he had to cross the Euphrates river. 06:23 In Hebrew - which is the language, right? - 06:29 the word Hebrew itself comes from the root of Aramean's 06:33 to cross over. Yes. So Abraham is called a man 06:38 from over there. From across the river. 06:41 That was his nickname. Right. And after this 06:45 nickname, all the children of Abraham including Ishmael, 06:50 including all his children from Keturah 06:54 after Sarah died, they can be called Hebrews you know. 06:59 So it really... I've heard 07:01 on several occasions people referring to Abraham as 07:05 the first Jew. But that's not really correct, then, 07:08 by what you're saying, right? No, this is not correct. 07:11 This is not exact. 07:12 What we have is we have Isaac, the Hebrew, 07:15 the son of Abraham - right - together with his brother 07:18 Ishmael. And of course Isaac has Jacob and Esau. 07:23 And we know Esau is the father of the Edomite nation. 07:28 They lived down toward the Red Sea. 07:31 And then we have Jacob 07:33 who after his trials and tribulations is called Israel: 07:37 the one who wrestled with God. 07:40 And he has 12 sons. Right. And that's the nation of Israel. 07:46 And that's... through those twelve tribes 07:48 of course we get Judah 07:50 which is where that name Jew comes from. 07:54 Yes, the name Judah comes. 07:57 And the reason why today there are no Hebrews 08:01 is because basically what happens to the history 08:04 Israel was split into two different countries: 08:09 north and south. 08:10 And the ten northern tribes apostasized from God 08:15 and they are taken into captivity and they disappear 08:19 through assimilation. 08:20 And so the only tribe which the book II Kings chapter 17 08:26 talks... the only tribe which is left is the tribe of Judah. 08:30 Right. So let's jump way forward in time now 08:35 because we do want to be able to talk about the difference 08:39 between what we're saying the Hebraic roots 08:41 vs. the Jewish roots. And let's just take a little bit 08:44 of time and talk about who the Jews are today. 08:48 You know it's interesting... all of us were raised 08:52 within different contexts but raised as Jews 08:55 and then accepted Jesus or Yeshua - His Hebrew name - 09:00 as the Messiah and our experiences are different. 09:04 But now the Jews that exist today 09:08 I don't think a lot of people understand that just like 09:11 there's many different denomi- nations within Christianity 09:14 there are different denominational differences 09:18 within Judaism. Right? Oh yeah, oh yeah. 09:21 It can go from extreme right like Lubanitch Hasidic 09:27 which is the ultra orthodox - yeah - as you know. Yeah. 09:30 Those are the guys that most people would think, you know, 09:33 in New York... the orthodox Jews. With the big black hats. 09:36 With the hats or with the fox-fur type of hat - 09:39 right? - and the coats. 09:40 Just to make clear... They try to model actually, 09:46 and that's what's important for people to understand. 09:49 That their lifestyle, the garb of these people, 09:52 their laws are based on the 18th century 09:59 law codes and writings 10:02 and it's so... it's very far from... And they're stuck. 10:05 Rabbinic law instead of Biblical law. 10:07 It's not even Rabbinic. It's way way post-Rabbinic. 10:10 It's what you could say Medival interpretation 10:13 of Rabbinic law. Interesting. 10:15 So we have the orthodox and many sections 10:21 within orthodox Judaism. 10:23 Yeah, the orthodox Judaism I would say is the one 10:29 is the form of Judaism that actually sprung out of 10:33 what is known in the New Testament as the 10:36 Pharisaic teaching. Right. That's the traditional, 10:39 conventional, Pharisaic teaching that evolved 10:42 through the ages. We want people also to understand that 10:44 throughout these programs when we talk about Pharisees 10:49 we're not talking in a negative sense. 10:51 Right? Right. The Pharisees were a group of the ultra orthodox 10:56 as they are today within the Jewish faith as a whole. 11:01 Now also not only do we have the orthodox but there is 11:05 conservative - which is one step removed - 11:08 which is what my background was. 11:10 My family was conservative Judaism. 11:13 Yeah. The conservative and actually reform 11:16 is a late development as Judaism - basically the 11:20 traditional orthodox Judaism - split in the middle 11:23 left and right. The left went basically 11:29 saying: "OK, we want to inte- grate into current society. " 11:34 Because for many generations 11:38 among the Christian count... 11:41 especially in the Christian countries, Medival times... 11:44 Jews were forced to live in special areas called ghettos. 11:49 And basically reformed and conservative 11:52 they say: "OK, let us get out of this situation. Let us 11:56 live normal lives. " It happened with the development 12:00 of democracy in Europe beginning of the 19th century. 12:05 While the Hasidic... they went the other way 12:08 and they said: "Let's preserve the values which we developed 12:13 during this Medival life separate from the rest of the 12:18 world. " So which category today would you say most Jews are in? 12:22 The majority of the Jews today are secular 12:25 and in America 60% of American Jews relate themselves 12:31 as either reformed or conservative 12:34 or other names that exist for liberal progressive Judaism. 12:40 Now that brings to a really interesting thing 12:42 is that unlike arguably maybe any other religion 12:47 Judaism is not just a religion. 12:51 Judaism - exactly - is an ethnicity as well. 12:54 Now Sasha mentioned this term "secular Jews. " 12:58 And what we're talking about here is Jews that see themselves 13:01 ethnically as a Jewish person. 13:05 If you went up and asked them what they were, 13:07 they would say: "I'm Jewish. " 13:09 Yet they're not practicing any of the religious practices. 13:13 They might not even believe in God! 13:15 Ah, and that's a very typical thing. 13:17 That's how I grew up. My grandparents 13:21 were raised orthodox but then became Communist. 13:25 And so my parents were raised Communist, atheist, 13:29 and we even didn't know of our religion. 13:32 I didn't know anything about my religion. 13:35 My father even didn't know until the last years of his life 13:41 who Abraham was because we were so ignorant. 13:44 But as all Jews in Europe, we were very well aware 13:48 that we are not Russian, not Ukrainian, 13:51 but Jews... because that's who we ethnically were considered. 13:56 Hmm. Right. Interesting. 13:58 And I know that in my upbringing I had a similar thing. 14:02 Now our family did practice what we call the high holidays. 14:06 Right. That's like Passover and Yom Kippur. 14:09 And we do have a very special program that we'll be discussing 14:13 those particular things, so I'm really looking forward to that. 14:16 That'll give you a deeper reason to hang with us 14:21 'cause that will be coming. The Jews in America 14:26 have become a real melting pot 14:28 of all of the different forms of Judaism. 14:31 You know, I don't know how many people know this 14:34 but there's a total of about 13 million Jews worldwide. 14:38 Yeah. Now when you think about the total population 14:40 of the world and close to half of that 14:44 is in Israel and the other half is in North America 14:48 and we have this little small percentage that's mixed 14:52 around the rest of the world. Um-hmm. 14:54 You know, where I live down in south Florida vs. New York 14:57 those are probably the two largest population centers 15:00 of Jews in North America. 15:03 Yeah, we have to mention the Torah. Over 5 million Jews 15:05 in America - right - and these are only those who are 15:09 registered with Jewish organizations. 15:11 And there are mixed families that are like my family 15:16 which is mixed, and we are not registered. 15:18 So we would have to say an estimate maybe 15:22 around 7 or 8 millions Jews in the US and Canada. 15:26 Right, right. So let's shift gears just a little bit. 15:29 And I want to get back to talking about the difference 15:32 when we use the terms Hebraic roots vs. the Jewish roots. 15:36 It's going to be important for our friends, for those following 15:41 this program, to understand that because we are going to be 15:45 focusing so much on the Hebraic roots. Um-hmm. 15:48 So Sasha, when I say to you something like 15:50 "No, we're talking about the Hebraic roots vs. the Jewish 15:54 roots... " Or in fact, let me go to Rachel first. 15:57 From her perspective, how do you receive something like that? 16:00 If I say: "No, this is Hebraic roots vs. Jewish roots. " 16:04 What would you think? The first thing that comes to my 16:06 mind would be Biblical vs. traditional possibly? 16:09 Yeah, yeah. Exactly. 16:11 Well and I think the other thing - I mean, for me - 16:13 is when we talk Hebraic roots my mind goes back maybe even 16:18 to the first century - ummm - at least in the context 16:21 that I see it. Ummm. And when I say first century I'm talking 16:24 about the time when Jesus 16:26 was walking on the face of the earth. 16:29 What was the Jewish religion like? 16:32 And it's so very different now, right Sasha? from what it was. 16:36 Well if we talk about Hebraic roots, first of all we have to 16:40 really come to the existence of two contrasting mentalities 16:46 in that time. Greek mentality 16:51 which comes from Greek philosophers - you know, Plato, 16:56 Aristotle and others - and the Semetic-Hebrew mentality. 17:01 And these two mentalities they look upon things 17:06 totally different. Right, right. So it's kind of like 17:11 from a Greek perspective you have to be able to analyze 17:16 and break everything down, right? Oh yeah. 17:18 It has to be... It has to add up: 1, 2, 3, 4 17:21 and they all have to add, right? 17:22 Well I usually give an example: 17:24 "How do you portray the bicycle? " 17:28 And people will say to me: "Oh, the bicycle has 17:31 a handlebar and a frame and two wheels. " 17:35 And I say: "This is typical Greek 17:37 because you start with the components. " Right. 17:40 Hebrew starts with actions. Right. 17:43 And in Hebrew mentality a bicycle is a nice machine that 17:48 allows you to speed up your motion. Right. 17:51 And so if you look at the picture of God - 17:54 we'll be talking about this in our next shows... 17:57 But in the picture of God 17:59 we don't have actually a pictographic representation 18:04 of God but we have a great description of God - 18:07 merciful, almighty, powerful - 18:11 you know, describes the character, the actions of God. 18:14 Right. And that's the Hebrew... That's what the Hebraic... 18:18 that's the origin of Hebraic. 18:22 So when we're talking especially about the Hebraic roots now 18:26 we don't want people to get confused that "Oh, this 18:30 is just talking about Jewish stuff. " 18:33 Right. Because the truth of it is is that when we go back 18:38 to that first-century period when we look at the time 18:41 when Jesus or Yeshua 18:43 which is... I use the name Yeshua quite a bit. 18:46 Someone asked me: "Why do you use Yeshua? " 18:47 I said: "Well, because that's what His mama called Him. " 18:50 So - back to the roots - if she called Him Yeshua 18:52 we can call Him Yeshua. That's right. 18:54 But Jesus, Yeshua... He's our Messiah. Same thing. 18:56 Doesn't matter. But in that time period, when we... 18:59 when we strive to really understand who He is 19:03 you know this is very much like when you get married 19:07 in the beginning you know your husband or your wife, 19:10 you know, this much. You know enough to say 19:12 "Yeah, I'm going to make a commitment to this person. " 19:16 But the truth is, should you be married - God willing - for 19:18 20, 30, 40, 50 years 19:20 you spend a lifetime of getting to know them 19:23 and not really what history has portrayed them to be 19:28 but really who they are, who they were. What made them 19:32 the person that they are. Hmmm. 19:34 So for me, understanding the Hebraic roots is very much 19:36 like that. You know, we... Someone asked me the question 19:41 "Can a person come to a saving knowledge of Messiah 19:47 without really delving into the Hebraic roots? " 19:50 Of course. Right. Of course... that's the answer. 19:52 But it's kind of like that analogy of the marriage. 19:55 You know, that yes, you can come to know Jesus or Yeshua 20:00 and He can be revealed to you. 20:02 But when we desire to dig deeper, 20:05 when we desire to know the fullness of who He is, 20:08 you have a deeper relationship. 20:10 That's where we want to really strive to understand 20:15 what we're calling the Hebraic roots of the faith. 20:17 We want to take a look at the cultural aspect 20:20 of that first-century period. We want to know 20:23 about how Yeshua saw the world around Him 20:28 but remembering that He saw the world through 20:31 Hebraic or Jewish eyes. The biggest problem... That's right. 20:35 The biggest problem in Christianity is when... 20:38 because historically there was a hatred toward the Jews 20:43 Christianity at the end of the second century 20:46 went strongly against its Hebraic roots - um-hmm - 20:51 and it was replaced with Greek philosophy 20:54 which was very easy to accept based on the New Testament 20:58 Greek. And so many terms and many statements in the 21:02 New Testament were viewed through the eyes of the Greek 21:07 philosophical thinking ended up distorting 21:13 the image of Jesus... who He really is. 21:16 Right, yeah. Wow! So as we move on 21:20 from program to program we're going to be delving into 21:24 some really important aspects like we said at the intro. 21:29 We're going to be looking at things like is the New Testament 21:32 a Christian book? Is it a Jewish book? 21:35 And are the Jewish festivals really Jewish? 21:39 That's... that's a really good one. And I know that 21:42 we're going to have a lot of interest when we hit that one. 21:45 And talking about Jesus 21:50 who is He? Not just what history has made Him out to be 21:55 but who Jesus is in the context. What was His family like? 21:58 Where did He grow up? What was His life? 22:00 And you know, here's one of the things: 22:03 that prior to coming to know Him - um-hmm - 22:06 it may be crazy for some people to hear this - 22:09 but I didn't even know that Jesus was a Jew. 22:12 Hmmm. And imagine my shock - 22:15 wow! - as a Jew to find out that who I thought was 22:18 the Christian's God was the Jewish Messiah. 22:21 Hmmm. So I am so excited about the topics that we have 22:26 in front of us, and I hope that you're as excited. 22:29 You know, there's a whole "nother" aspect 22:33 to this program as well. 22:35 Both Rachel and I have gotten bitten by the music bug 22:38 at different times in our life, and we're going to be sharing 22:41 our musical experiences. And we're going to be sharing 22:44 with you some really unique music. 22:47 So today I get the opportunity of bringing the first song. 22:51 And I think this is Sim Shalom. 22:53 You wrote it, didn't you? Yeah, yeah, I did. 22:55 So I'm going to slide over here and get ready. 22:58 All right. Go for it! 23:00 And while Alex is setting up, he didn't mention it but he 23:02 is also a pastor of a large church in south Florida. 23:05 And Sasha knows this song really, really well. 23:08 And so I think I'll let you tell us a little bit about 23:10 this song. This is a liturgical poem. A prayer 23:13 which means establish peace. Sim Shalom. 23:17 Establish peace, goodness, and mercy 23:21 upon everyone and upon all Your people. 23:25 Nice. So it's a prayer song. 27:18 Amen. Well Rachel, it's been a great first show. 27:22 It has! We want to close with a blessing. 27:25 May the Lord bless you. May He keep you. 27:27 May the Lord make His face to shine upon you 27:29 and be gracious to you. 27:30 May the Lord lift His countenance upon you 27:32 and bring you His peace. Amen. 27:35 We hope to see you again. 27:37 Join us once again on Back To Our Roots. Amen. |
Revised 2021-07-08